


Friends Don't Tenderly Braid Each Other's Hair and Bask in Each Other's Presence

by MasukisJacket



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Awkwardness, But like.. in an endearing way, Cute, Disaster Lesbians, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Hair Braiding, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I am literally so soft for this pairing. Like you don't understand, I cant believe that's not a tag already, I swear when they actually interact in canon i Will Perish, One whole swear word, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26579941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MasukisJacket/pseuds/MasukisJacket
Summary: Noelle has a realization while braiding Susie's hair and suddenly loses her brain to mouth filter and says something she regrets....Actually, maybe she doesn't regret it.
Relationships: Noelle Holiday/Susie (Deltarune)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Friends Don't Tenderly Braid Each Other's Hair and Bask in Each Other's Presence

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Posting a fic at 2am when I should definitely be asleep? It's more likely than you think.  
> Seriously though, I was too excited to post this to sleep. I don't get it either  
> I really meant for this to be a drabble.. and it quickly got out of hand  
> Is this fic coherent at all? Maybe not. Is it ooc? I sure hope not but it very well could be. Am I posting it anyway? Yes.

Noelle was braiding Susie's hair.

Was she doing it efficiently? No, definitely not. She kept finding excuses to start over again. Because, here's the thing:

Susie's hair was really nice to just… Touch. It was soft, and long, and thick, and she never wanted to stop touching it. And even though Susie was not a patient person, she still let Noelle start over and over again. Even though there was no possible way that anybody could make that many mistakes, or take this long, even with her frankly absurd amount of hair, she still let her.

That got Noelle thinking, and she had room to think since they weren't talking. Susie wouldn't let anybody else do this. Both braiding her hair and taking such a long time with it. She knew that for sure.

There were a lot of things Noelle was pretty sure only she could do with Susie. Going to the diner alone, just being together without talking (which seemed to happen a lot), being openly honest with her feelings (although, there were some feelings that Noelle was going to keep inside of her forever and never tell Susie)...

Maybe some things could apply to Kris, but it didn't change the fact that the two of them were very close. Noelle would even say she had never been as close to anyone as she was to Susie, besides her dad. She remembered a time before she knew Susie, which seemed like forever ago but was actually only a few months, when she would constantly wonder about her. Wonder about what she was like, what she liked, and spending hours trying to work up the courage to even talk to her.

She still did those things a lot, actually. For all their openness and vulnerability with each other, there were still so many things Noelle didn't know about Susie. And maybe she wasn't as nervous about talking to Susie anymore, but she still got that weird giddy feeling in her chest whenever she did.

And she'd thought she had a crush on Susie before…

For as much as she psyched herself out about talking to Susie, actually doing it was easy. There was something about Susie's sarcasm, her mannerisms, and surprising casualness that made her _so_ easy to talk to. She wondered why no one else had done this before.

_Probably because everyone else was, and still is, scared of her and you were too stupid to not be,_ Her mind supplied, and yeah that was a pretty good point. Susie was still frightening sometimes, but it didn't really bother Noelle. It was just another part of who Susie was. And maybe she was stupid for not being scared, but she could accept being stupid. Being stupid was worth whatever this was.

Susie didn't seem to mind Noelle's constantly being terrified of everything, or her timidness. Even when she did get on her case about it, she was never rude or even jokingly mean. Just genuinely asking her to speak up. She was really confused by this, so she had asked her about it one time. Susie had said "Yeah, you're kinda annoying, but not in a bad way," which made precisely zero sense but it was also a compliment from Susie (well, as close as Susie could get to complimenting someone), so Noelle didn't question it.

She had been so happy that day, and was still happy thinking back on it. But, of course, she had to go and overthink it.

One of the hallmarks of the crushing experience is wondering if your crush likes you back. Now, Noelle was no stranger to that question, but it always seemed unobtainable. Especially before they knew each other. Because the town was so small, everyone knew everyone else to some extent, and Noelle liked to think that she was decently good friends with everyone, or at least acquainted, so she knew that Susie knew she existed. She also knew that Susie didn't really notice her, and that was fine for a while.

But now was different. Because there was the faintest possibility that Susie liked her. Now, Noelle liked to think of herself as a pretty optimistic person, but she knew this was different. Because you can't force yourself to like someone, it just happens, and no amount of optimism could change that. So even if she wished for it to happen, she wasn't counting on it.

But, actually, looking back on it, maybe it wasn't as outrageous to consider it as she thought. The two of them _were_ really close, and they could hang out without even talking for hours, and it was never awkward. It was nice, even. And she was pretty sure Susie enjoyed that time, too, if her smile was anything to go by.

Noelle had never had a friend as close as this, Kris was the only contender, and they didn't talk much, so Noelle did most of the talking in that exchange. Even after Susie became friends with them, they were still not talkative. Still, when they spent time together, it was always like there was a silence to be filled. She never once felt that way with Susie. Sure, there was a silence, but not a bad one. They talked if they had something to say, and didn't if they didn't.

Hm.

That probably wasn't normal.

_It's not a question of whether or not it's normal, it's a question of whether or not it's platonic._

_No, definitely not on my end._

_But what about hers…?_

Noelle looked at Susie. Her hair was out of her eyes, which were closed, and she had a small smile on her face. She didn't even seem to notice Noelle's pause in braiding her hair.

_Huh._

Would it be too ambitious to just go for it?

_Yes. She's your closest friend, this could ruin everything. This is a bad idea._

Still, now that the idea was planted in her head…

She thought back to the last conversation she had had with Kris about this.

She had gushed for a little bit, and told them that she really wanted to date Susie.

Their response was "You aren't already dating?" and that train of conversation had ended there.

If Kris thought they were already dating, maybe…

Maybe it wouldn't be a mistake to ask.

Oh. She had finished the braid.

"Okay, it's done," She reluctantly moved back after she put the hair tie in place.

"Finally," Susie said, but there was no bitterness behind it. She still had a smile on her face as she got up and looked at it in the mirror. "Damn, not bad."

"You expected it to look bad? Do you have that little faith in my braiding skills?" Noelle joked, standing behind Susie and remembering just how short she looked in comparison (she wasn't tall, per se, but she wasn't short either. It was just that everyone was short compared to Susie). It was easy to forget when she was sitting on the bed and Susie was on the floor, but _wow_. "It does look really good, though."

Now, Noelle wasn't sure if this was just her little gay brain making things up, but she could swear Susie blushed a little at that. She was inclined to believe that she was imagining things because could Susie even blush? Was that physically possible? Was Susie denying the laws of reality in order to blush? What was happening??

"Uh, thanks." And maybe her brain wasn't making things up. No, that was definitely a blush. (Why was it adorable? Never in a million years did Noelle think she'd ever be able to describe Susie as "cute," and yet her brain was doing exactly that).

_Okay, that's… Interesting._ What could she do with that?

_C'mon, you know what you can do! Ask her!_

But even just thinking about it made her nervous… She shouldn't. She really shouldn't.

"Noelle? Are you… Good?"

"Are we dating?" The words came out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

There was a pause.

Susie stared at Noelle in disbelief.

"What?" Well, she didn't sound mad or anything, just shocked. Noelle supposed that was a good thing.

"I mean, uh…" There was no getting out of it now. "Kris, uh, said they thought we were dating, and I just started thinking back on everything and it really does seem like we're dating," She felt like she was digging this hole even deeper and simultaneously burying herself in it. "I mean, I braided your hair, which _could_ be a friend thing but I don't think it was, and we just kinda bask in each other's presence? A lot? Like that one time at the diner, and I don't really know where I'm going with this but I think maybe? We could be dating??" Noelle looked very resolutely at the floor, and seriously considered never looking up.

"I…" Susie's voice was eerily quiet, and when Noelle glanced at her for a second, she was completely frozen. Just staring in shock. It wasn't an ideal reaction, but maybe not a bad one.

For the very first time, the silence between Noelle and Susie was awkward. Neither of them dared to speak up, though. Noelle was inwardly cursing her stupid brain for not stopping her from saying anything. She should've just kept quiet.

"Fuck, how am I supposed to respond to that…?" Susie muttered, laughing just a little bit at the end.

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that," Noelle laughed a little bit, too. The awkward tension was still there, but it seemed to be dissipating a bit. "I just, um…" No point in holding anything back now. "I really like you, and I kinda want to properly date you…? If, uh, if that's okay with you, I mean." _Wait wait wait did I actually say that?? This was a horrible idea, what if she doesn't like me back, I regret everything-_

"Okay."

Wait.

"What?" Noelle was so startled that she looked up. Susie's expression was so genuine, so much softer than she normally let herself be, and maybe it was cliche, but Noelle swore her heart skipped a beat when she saw it.

"It's okay with me. I, uh…" Susie grimaced a little. "Want to date you too, I guess."

"Y-you do?" Noelle's brain was not doing a very good job at working properly.

"Yeah, I do." Had Noelle seen Susie smile before? Yes. Did that make this tiny little shy smile any less breathtaking to look at? No.

"Okay," Noelle breathed, starting to get a small bit of brainpower back. A distinctly warm and happy feeling filled her. It felt like both forever and only an instant that they stared at each other, smiling.

Susie broke the silence by clearing her throat.

"As your girlfriend, I believe you have to let me braid your hair. Like, right now."

"Do you even know how to braid?"

"Not a clue, you're going to teach me," Susie grinned at her, and Noelle laughed.

Once she had explained how to braid hair, Susie had gotten right to work. It was nice, to say the very least. She was gentle with it, and Noelle understood why Susie had been so relaxed before.

Needless to say, the braid looked absolutely horrible. It was uneven, and a mess, clearly not braided properly in some places, and she someone missed a big chunk of hair that looked out of place next to Noelle's face.

She left it in for the rest of the night.

And if Susie walked into class early the next morning, holding Noelle's hand, well.

Nobody commented on it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so uh.. if you also have suselle brainrot go follow my twitter, which is, fittingly, @noelleholidays


End file.
